capeandcowllogs | Take yourself out to the curb...

Take yourself out to the curb...

WHO: Raven

darkprophecies, Spider-Man (616)

bythreadalone
WHERE: A coffee house/bistro.
WHEN: An hour after their discussion via communicator.
WARNINGS: ~~The fangirls?~~ None.
SUMMARY: Raven takes Peter up on his offer of meeting him for coffee - many awkward feelings and discussions will most likely occur.
FORMAT: Quick para/Para

How was it that days that seemed so beautiful weather-wise ended up being so... shitty, for lack of a better term? There were no proper words to describe the chaos of the last week of Raven's life, and this only seemed to pile more atop of it. She wouldn't be one to complain about it, however. There were others with much worse weeks than an aching heart and confused emotions - she had to remember that.

She slowly stepped into the coffee shop, letting the aroma greet her before she glanced around. ... Mm, he wasn't here yet. That was a plus for her, as the butterflies in her stomach would have possibly urged her to teleport away and leave him sitting there, afraid to talk to him after the humiliation she was feeling. But he wanted to see her, for whatever reason.

Taking a table as far back as she could, she sat, and released a slow breath to ease her troubled mind. She had nothing to be nervous about, at least not this nervous. Despite it, the emotion was written all over her face as her eyes followed the few employees that strolled about.

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Peter froze mid-sip, almost sputtering into his cup at her question. That certainly one way to take the elephant in the room and show it to everyone else.

He set the cup down, and scratched the back of his neck. "Des. That's -- are you sure this is what you want to talk about?"

"As... sure as I am going to be, Peter." her voice was much weaker now that she had actually said the words. They were real... and a dose of reality was what she needed.
Far too many nights had been spent in a daydreaming state about him, about something that was a fairy tale and would never come true. She needed to face reality before... it hurt any worse than it already did.

"Besides, it... needs to be addressed at some point."

This was more like leading the elephant to the slaughter, though. And almost twice as gruesome to be a part of. Peter thumbed the edge of his cup, slowly encircling its edge.

He tried hard not to smile when he thought of Mary Jane. Tried.

"Her name's Mary Jane. I met her when I was preschool."

Edited 2009-03-28 05:46 (UTC)

She caught the smile, and caught the emotion behind it even more so - she was briefly confused as to how she felt about that. On one hand, seeing and feeling him in such a way brought her a strange sense of joy - he seemed... peaceful when speaking her name.
On the other hand...

She wanted that name to be hers that brought forth that sort of reaction in him.

"That's quite a long time to know someone."
Just stay polite and kind.
Be supportive.
"You must really love her."

He looked into the depths of his coffee for a small while. It was true that Mary Jane was his everything -- no demon or demi-god or confused little teenage girl could change that; but, Peter also had to look at the reality of the situation.

He had left her in the hands of Mephisto, a demon second in power to almost none other in his universe. He had also let her sacrifice the chance that they would ever have a child just to save Aunt May and --

Peter closed his eyes, and let out a tiny breath.

"It's more than that."

His emotions had shifted so drastically that it caused her to reach out and put a hand on his arm. Her eyes held all the information he needed - she was genuinely concerned now.

The fact that her heart had been somewhat broken, the fact that they were talking about his wife, the major reason she would not have a relationship with him herself... it didn't matter.
He was hurting.

He put his hand over hers for a moment, and let out another sigh. It seemed almost moot to angst over something that had happened almost months ago. When and if he returned, then would be the time and place to mourn. Or to hunt down Mephisto and find a way to kill him. Either or, really.

"I'm fine. Sorry," and with that, he gently squeezed her hand. "Thanks."

"Do you wish to talk about it?" she still held the deep concern in her eyes and voice, resting her other hand on top of his. "Did something happen? I apologize if I brought forth something negative for you..."

Her coffee was now completely forgotten, her own problems pushed aside - it did not register in her mind that she was feeling this way until long after she had spoken.
It was strange. She cared for his well being more than she did her own desires or needs. There was only one, perhaps two that had garnered those sorts of emotions from her.

"Really, it's not a problem. At all," he reassured her, trying -- and possibly succeeding -- at forcing a smile. "Just this place and how it is, you know? It moves so fast sometimes that you forget about the things you've left behind."

He left it at that. Really, what else could he say?

She managed a soft smile, pulling back only one of her hands and leaving the other to hold his supportively as she spoke.

"Alright... but I understand that already. However there's something else about this place that unnerves me."
She shifted slightly, then sighed. "Do you remember me speaking to you, the first time we ever actually saw one another... about having a boyfriend you reminded me of?"

He nodded, his mind trying to follow where she might be going with this.

"Yeah, I do. What happened?"

"Now imagine me, sitting in a hospital after what happened with you that night..." she faltered slightly.

"And reading a message on my communicator stating that... that very boy had now arrived in the city."

Another nod. "Thought it might be that." Here, Peter slowly took his hand back, and took a sip of coffee, mulling over what she had told him.

"What're you going to do about it?"

"There is nothing I can do." she sighed in frustration, slowly drawing her own hand back to her cup of coffee.

"He is not the same boy - he is... much younger." her face took on a different sort of emotion now, one that looked nearly hurt as the thought crossed her mind. "... he knows a different version of me, looks at me like I am a stranger."

He couldn't help the laugh that came out of him at her predicament. It wasn't long ago that he was dealing with the time paradox of his younger-self meeting his dimension's version of Mary Jane, after all.

Peter shook his head, still half-laughing at the entire situation. "If that's the case, then don't -- I think you shouldn't stress too much about it, really." he scratched the back of his neck, here. "At least one in every three people here meets someone they know from another time or world."

Her eyes lifted to him in a combination of surprise and insult at his laughter, however she spoke nothing of how she felt about it. It was soon soothed away anyway by just the sound of his laugh itself.

"I would not stress so much about it if he didn't seem so... keen on having conversations with me. It is... uncomfortable." she stared down at the coffee in front of her, furrowing her brow. "... I miss him, Peter. The one I left behind. I miss him so terribly..."

Ohgod. He couldn't deal with waterworks. Not today.

"Hey, now." he said, already reaching out to lay his hand atop of hers, the barest of touches. "There's no need for that, alright? He might be from a different time, or place, but there's no evidence that he's not the same person."

She released a soft sigh when he touched her hand - it helped, it really did.
"I apologize... I know I am far too emotional over this. It's just... for the longest time in my life I was unable to feel, unable to harness emotions properly. He came along and helped me to understand some of the more positive ones in my life."

She turned her hand to entwine their fingers briefly - a completely platonic motion at the time.
"I am fairly sure he is not the same - there are basic similarities here and there; his skin color, his powers, and some of his humor. But he acts completely different."

She gave pause again, looking down at their hands before glancing up with a gentle smile.
"... Thank you, Peter. Despite all of this going on between us, you're still willing to be supportive."

He shook his head, returning her smile. "You're welcome, Des. And I'm sure that just because he acts different doesn't mean that he's going to always be that way." Peter let go of her hand to gesture to himself, the look on his face purely sarcastic. "I mean, come on. I was a dork back in highschool, and look at me now!"

A pause. He'd wait for her to make a joke at that.

"George Clooney, I know." she laughed very softly.

However her laugh faded a bit as she propped her chin up into her hand. She felt much better about this entire situation. The feelings were still there - and they would most likely remain there for... a long time to come. But this... this she could make due with, and be happy.

"Do you... still hold faith that you will one day return home? I have heard rumors of those who are still here after a very long period of time."

"I was going to say: 'Superhero Extraordinair,' but that works too." he answered with a small laugh. "Though, you know, I don't have the hair to be Clooney yet. Maybe I need more stress in my life?"

A beat, and then. "Naaaaah."

Peter nodded in answer to her question. "It's a bit more complicated for some people than that, but, yeah. The trick of this place is that either we stay, or we go."

"You have a teenage daughter - it will come sooner than you think." she managed to laugh again before taking a long sip of her coffee, and nodding at his words.

"I see."
Setting the cup down she tucked some hair behind her ear before continuing herself, "I have already been asked by many if I would ever want to return. The truth is that I do not know for certain." she made a slight face, but more to herself than anyone else.
"I have begun to think that this is my second chance at life - the one I always desired to have in a way. I can make any impression that I desire here - I am not forced behind the terrible label that most put on me in my world."

Again, he nodded. "It's a common thought among a bunch of people here," he explained, reaching to his cup so that he could take another sip. "Once we get everything up and running again, though, I think it wouldn't be that bad of a place to stay, you know?"

"Sort of a home away from home."

"I've also met so many wonderful people here already." she paused a moment, smirking at him pointedly. She did not have to name names for him to get the idea. "Ones that I would have never met otherwise - ones that I would never want to forget or leave behind."

She stared out the window again at the people rushing around in their rush to return to their homes after a long day's work.
"I wish to have a normal life - I know that I would never be able to have that in my world. Cursed to be a hero forever. I wish to one day marry, raise a family... that may be possible here."

"Hey, just because you're a hero with a capital H doesn't mean you can't have a family, you know?"

Another fond smile.

"Things might get hectic, yeah, but trust me -- love always finds a way. It's got this annoying habit of sneaking up on you."

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